Beans for Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, I planted the first of our beans—pole beans. This year I'm growing Purple Trionfino and Rattlesnake beans. I like these because they're purple, which makes them easy to pick. Every year that I've grown beans I've lost my trellis to severe thunderstorms, so this year I'm trying something different—bamboo teepees. Yup, I'm finally growing my pole beans on poles. The teepees have 6 poles each, and I planted 6 seeds per pole as the packet instructed. That sure seems like a lot of beans. Of course, less than 24 hours after planting a line of sever weather came marching through, and the teepees seem to be taking it well. Once it stops raining and it's a little less soggy outside, I'll plant the next round of beans—favas (first time growing those).

Yesterday I also transplanted four heads of red leaf lettuce, seeded three square feet of chard (4 seeds per foot), and planted nine square feet of beets (9 seeds per foot). I potted up about half of the pepper seedlings, and will do the rest later this week. The biggest task was to move a bunch of woodchips from the back of our lot line (where the landscaper got a little overzealous and encroached on our neighbor's lot) to the front of the garden to give the hedge some growing room. My job was easy—lay down newspaper 20" from the hedge line. Aaron actually hauled all the woodchips from back to front. He did an excellent job.

On Thursday, my father-in-law delivered the new arbor and gate he made for us. Isn't it gorgeous?

The gate (not pictured) will be attached to two 4 x 4's that need to be dug into the ground. They'll attach directly to the front of the gate. This year, I'm planning to grow Morning Glories up and over the arbor (I got some seeds for free with a Seed Savers order). Next year, perhaps beans, malabar spinach, or even some squash or melons. Once those posts are in the ground, nothing will pull this over.

Since I'm linking this to Daphne's Harvest Monday post, I should talk about what I harvested.

See that fresh basil on top of the chicken parmesan? I harvested the tops of three seedlings so I could garnish the dinner I made for me and my parents. It was a useful harvest, not just because it was DELICIOUS, but because I normally pick the top off the basil early to encourage it to branch out and form additional stems. For the record, the sauce was homemade, but from a local farmer's tomatoes because I didn't have a garden last year.

In Spring, Take All The Harvests You Can Get

Here's my first Harvest Monday of 2014!

No, those aren't chives. They're the "waste" from the last trimming of my onion and leek seedlings before I hardened them off and transplanted them outside. They taste like scallion greens. They sat in the fridge for a few days until I figured out what to do with them. Tonight, after dinner, it came to me.

They brightened up a chickpea quinoa salad with kalamata olives and lemon garlic dressing. This will be served on top of a bed of greens and topped with goat cheese for lunches this week.

Other than a few cuttings of herbs I've been growing indoors, one chili pepper plant that made it through the winter (in a pot, inside), and the "micro basil" I thinned out a few weeks ago, this is the first taste of fresh homegrown food we've had in the new house. It's surely the first to be photographed! Next week there's a chance we'll be eating spinach from the garden.

Check out Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions to see what other gardeners are harvesting this week.

Spring Garden Update & Lessons Learned

Lessons I've learned so far in 2014, the first year starting seeds and gardening in our new house:

• I need to pay more attention to my seedlings. In the last house, I went down to the basement almost every day for one reason or another, so it was natural to check on them. In this house, the basement is strictly storage so I have to intentionally go down there. I haven't done it enough, and my seedlings have gone dry too often.
• Aaron has a genius idea to solve this problem that includes creating a reservoir that keeps a constant level of bottom water in the seed trays. We'll see if this comes to fruition in 2015.
• I need to water our raised beds more often. One of the benefits of raised beds is increased drainage. The beds at this house are twice as high as the beds at our last house, and it seems like they dry out twice as fast (but they give me more soft, loamy dirt to grow root vegetables in). My ultimate plan is to have a drip irrigation system installed, and water multiple times per day on a timer. Since that includes installing over 100 feet of underground, outdoor plumbing, it's not on the list for this year.
• Adding mulch after direct seeding does more harm than good. While trying to combat the previously mentioned watering problem, I covered newly seeded peas and radishes with straw. It seems to me that they've been very slow to come up. This could be due to a variety of factors, but I think I'll stick with mulching after plants are established from now on.
• I need to digitize my seed-starting calendar. I diligently mapped out my seed-starting calendar, but left it in the basement (see lesson #1). I also packed every week's seed starting activities on weekends. While I didn't miss any major dates, I could have had a less stressful winter/spring if I had done just a little bit of work each day, and had electronic reminders pop up on my phone so I wouldn't forget. Dear internet, is there an app for that?
• Next year, I'm going to try sowing onion seeds in cells. I always sow them by broadcasting in a container and just grow a clump of onions. I bet they'd develop a lot more before transplanting if they weren't so crowded.
• I definitely need to cover my beds (either with mulch or a cover crop) over the winter. The beds that were covered with thick layers of landscaping straw were almost weed free this spring. The other beds looked like small weed forests. If it weren't for the help of my husband and parents, I'd still be weeding those beds. I'm not sure if I"ll just mulch everything next year, or try planting something like rye that should keep the weeds out (and enrich the soil).
• While I'm excited that I'm going to recoup a majority of my seed starting costs by starting seeds for friends, I need to plan that better as well. I should either close orders earlier so I have more time to get a handle on what will be started, or just have a first-come, first-serve plant sale in the spring. If anyone reading this would have a preference for buying seeds from friends, let me know!

That's all the lessons that come to mind at the moment...plenty for it just being the first weekend in May.

Here's what I accomplished this weekend:

• Transplanted 200 onions (8-8'foot rows)
• Transplanted 25 onions to be harvested as scallions
• Transplanted 75 leeks (3-8's rows)
• Transplanted 4 broccoli plants
• Transplanted 2 cauliflower plants
• Transplanted 5 celery plants
• Transplanted some "miracle chives" - they survived the winter in a dark garage!
• Seeded 120 carrots (8-5' rows)
• Seeded approximately 100 peas (2-8' rows)
• Seeded 48 radishes
• Started seeds for cucumbers, squash, zinnias, and corn
• Up-potted some broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce I'm holding for friends

I still have a lot more seeding on my list, which I'm hoping to accomplish throughout the week.

I'm very happy with the soil quality in the raised beds—it's full of wriggly worms! I used a garden blend topsoil mix that had a lot of compost in it, and it seems to be full of life. The garlic (the only thing really growing right now) is kicking butt!

Seed Starting Update: Peppers & Brussel Sprouts

Today was pepper starting day! I used to start peppers and tomatoes on the same day, but I'd end up repotting the tomatoes two or three times before they made it to the garden. I doubt I really got that much of a head start that way, so this year I'm planting the tomatoes the minimum of six weeks before they go out in the garden. I'm giving the peppers the full eight weeks though, because they take a while to size up. It's somewhat depressing to realize that it's still a full eight weeks before I'll be planting my warm weather plants out.

I prepared my seed trays, and the first packet of seeds I opened was Chervena Chushka. This is a new pepper for me this year. It's supposed to be prolific and sugar sweet. I thought it would be excellent for salads and relishes, as well as for snacking. I was extremely disappointed to open the packet and find only two seeds. The packet was supposed to have 25, and I needed to plant 12 to fulfill my needs and my friends that had requested this type. I didn't want to mess around with planting two seeds, so I pulled out a 2012 packet of Big Red peppers from Pinetree and planted those instead. I also emailed Seed Savers to let them know my packet was under-filled. I hope they send me a new one; those peppers sounded delicious!

Here's what peppers got planted today:
Big Red (sweet)
Bull Nose Bell (sweet)
Chocolate Beauty (sweet)
Mini Yellow Bell (sweet)
Jalapeno (hot)
Chinese Ornamental (hot)
Joe's Cayenne (hot)

I'm hoping the sweet peppers do well; I've always had hit or miss luck with them. I'm planting 32 pepper plants total, and at least 24 of them will be sweet peppers. I need a lot for roasted tomato sauce, salsa, and relish, and I want to have a lot of chopped peppers in the freezer to use for chili.

I also planted my brussel sprouts today (Long Island Improved).

It's gorgeous outside (compared to our previous weather; today it's in the 40's), so I might try to stake out the hedge garden border. If I can get a shovel in the ground, I'd like to plant my currant bushes tomorrow.

Seed Starting Update: Alliums, Brassicas & Herbs

Today was the third seed-starting day of the 2014 gardening season. I have now filled an entire shelf on my grow rack.

I planted the onions and leeks on February 16, and they received their first haircut last weekend. They're looking great.

Last weekend, I started broccoli, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, head lettuce, and chives. The celery, eggplant, and chives haven't germinated yet. I put the eggplant seeds on a heat mat today to help with germination. The broccoli & cauliflower are looking great, but the lettuce was easiest to photograph.

Today I seeded herbs, including basil, cilantro, dill, fennel, mint, oregano, parsley, sage, and thyme. Some of the plants don't really need to be started early (cilantro for sure), but I'm looking forward to having an early crop and then seeding successive crops in the garden.

Speaking of the garden, the snow is gone! I haven't walked out there yet, but the weeds that I didn't get to last fall are definitely waiting for me. One bed is planted with garlic and covered in a loose layer of hay. I hope to see some green shoots poking up there soon.

Yesterday I got my first delivery of cuttings for the edible hedge—a dozen red currant plants. Given that we have snow in the forecast tomorrow, and we haven't yet staked out the border, they'll be hanging out in the garage for a week. I'm confident we can stake the border next weekend and get the currant plants in on Sunday. The rest should arrive in mid April.

This is going to be quite the transformational year for the back yard. In addition to the hedge planting, we'll be adding an arbor with a gate, finally having a full season of vegetables, and we'll be adding a patio outside the dining room. It should give us some excellent outdoor living space to enjoy a Wisconsin summer.

Next week, it's time to start peppers!!

Planning An Edible Hedge

As I look outside the window towards my garden, I can't even make out where the beds are because we've gotten so much snow this winter. More snow is falling as I write this, but I'm thinking of spring.

I last wrote in January, when I ordered my seeds. They have all arrived, and the leeks and onions were started on February 16. They're up and looking great. I'll start chronicling seed starting more in earnest when I start more plants in March.

I haven't shared my 2014 garden plan yet. It is mighty ambitious. Take a look:

We live in a subdivision that doesn't allow fenced yards, so I'm choosing to grow an edible hedge instead (I may sink chicken wire on the inside if we still have a problem with critters—only time will tell). I just placed the order today, and it was pretty overwhelming. To create a 35' x 60' hedgerow, we'll need:

• Caroline Raspberries (9) - fall bearing
• Red Lantham Raspberries (9) - spring/summer bearing
• Hinnomaki Red Gooseberries (12) - fall bearing
• Red Lake Currants (12) - July bearing
• Hansen's Bush Cherries (12) - summer bearing

These varieties were readily available from Gurney's, which appears to be a reliable source, and I got an excellent price. They have a coupon code in March that gives you $100 off an order of $200 or more. When all was said and done, these bushes were going to cost just over $500. So, I split my order into three, threw in the asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberries I needed....and ended up getting some landscaping bushes for the front of the house for a grand total of $310 + $75 shipping. That sounds like a lot for plants, but when you consider what it would cost to fence in this area (which wouldn't provide a delicious harvest), I think it's worth it. Also, I just got a credit card in the mail that has 0% interest for a year, so I can continue to use my monthly gardening budget to pay it off while I'm already reaping the benefits of the plants.

I can't wait to see what this looks like. All the bushes should grow to be 3'-5' tall, and after a few years of filling in I think they'll look wonderful—particularly in the spring when they're all in bloom. The gap in the hedge at the top of the plan will be an arbor with a gate. I got some free morning glories with one of my Seed Savers Exchange shipments, so maybe I'll grow them over the top of the arbor.

2014 Seed Order

You didn't hear from me much last year because I was without a garden. However, by September we had all the raised beds constructed and filled in the back yard, so it will be full steam ahead in 2014! Look at all the growing space I have:

That's eight 3'x3' beds, and 16 8'x3' beds (set up in adjacent pairs).

I've been using some garden planning software to lay everything out and plan for succession planting. Even with so much space, I'm still tempted to overdo things. There are currently 75 cloves of garlic (Music) planted, and the following seeds have either been ordered or will soon be ordered. Time to start a seed starting calendar!

• Arugula 
• Asparagus: Jersey Knight Hybrid
• Bush Beans: Royal Burgundy
• Fava Beans: Windsor 
• Beets: Cylindra, Golden, Chioggia 
• Broccoli: Calabrese, De Cicco
• Brussell Sprouts: Long Island Improved
• Cabbage:Premium Late Flat Dutch
• Carrots: Cosmic Purple. St. Valery
• Cauliflower: Early Snowball
• Celery: Tall Utah
• Chard: Rhubarb Red
• Corn: Blue Jade, Bear Paw Popcorn
• Cucumbers: Parade, Crystal Apple
• Eggplant: Black Beauty
• Genovese Basil
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Bouquet Dill
• Garlic Chives
• Florence Fennel
• Mint
• Greek Oregano
• Giant from Italy Parsley
• Green Culinary Sage
• Thyme
• Kale: Halbhoher Gruner Krauser, Red Russian
• Lettuce: Forrellenschluss, Red Iceberg, Green Oakleaf, Tango
• Leeks: Blue Solaise
• Onions: Alisa Craig Exhibition, Yellow Sweet Spanish
• Peas: Sugar Lace, Mammoth Melting Sugar Snow Pea
• Sweet Peppers: Chervena Chushka, Bull Nose Bell, Chocolate Beauty, Miniature Yellow Bell
• Hot Peppers: Chinese Ornamental, Joe’s Long Cayenne, Jalapeno Traveler Strain
• Potatoes: Purple Viking, Yukon Gold
• Radishes: Cherry Belle, French Breakfast
• Rutabaga: Joan
• Spinach: America, Strawberry Spinach
• Summer Squash: Black Beauty Zucchini, Golden Zucchini 
• Winter Squash: Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck, Waltham Butternut, Table Queen
• Strawberries: Honeoye
• Determinate Tomatoes: Rutgers, Oregon Spring, Tip-Top, Principe Borghese, Roma, Martin’s Roma, Silvery Fir Tree
• Indeterminate Tomatoes: Brandywine, Blondkopfchen, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, Dester, Italian Heirloom, Riesentraube
• Tomatillo